Chapter 9

Work Teams and Groups

1. Define group and work team.
Learning Outcomes

2. Explain the benefits organizations and individuals derive from

working in teams.

3. Identify the factors that influence group behavior.

4. Describe how groups form and develop.

5. Explain how task and maintenance functions influence group

performance.

6. Discuss the factors that influence group effectiveness.

7. Describe how empowerment relates to self-managed teams.

8. Explain the importance of upper echelons and top management

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1 Learning Outcome

Define group and work team.

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Groups and Teams

GROUP two or more people with common interests,

objectives, and continuing interaction

WORK TEAM a group of people with complementary skills

who are committed to a common mission, performance

goals, and approach for which they hold themselves

mutually accountable

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2 Learning Outcome

Explain the benefits organizations

and individuals derive from
working in teams.

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Why teams?
Good for work that is
complicated, complex,
interrelated and/or
more voluminous than
one person can handle
Overcomes individual
limitations.

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Teamwork
joint action by a team of people in which

individual interests are subordinated to team

unity

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 Beyond the Book:
Two CEOs?

Apparel retailer Aeropostale is challenging convential

wisdom by appointing co-CEOs.
The move is risky, given the recession.
Other companies have made this structure work
California Pizza Kitchen, Chipotle, Motorola, Research
in Motion, Twitter.
The most successful teams are those with
complimentary talents, composed of the organizations
veterans who worked together for some time.

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New vs. Old Team Environments

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 Benefits of Teams

For Organizations:
Encourages collaboration

For Individuals
Psychological intimacy
Integrated involvement

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3 Learning Outcome

Identify the factors that influence

group behavior.

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Group Behavior
Norms of Behavior the standards that a
work group uses to evaluate the
behavior of its members

Group Cohesion the interpersonal glue

that makes members of a group stick
together

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Group Behavior
Social Loafing the failure of a group
member to contribute personal time,
effort, thoughts, or other resources to
the group

Loss of Individuality a social process in

which group members lose self-
awareness and its accompanying sense
of accountability, inhibition, and
responsibility for individual behavior

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4 Learning Outcome

Describe how groups form and

develop.

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 3 Issues Addressed by Groups
Interpersonal issues
(Matters of trust, personal comfort, and
security)
Task issues
(Mission or purpose, methods, expected
outcomes)
Authority issues
(Leadership, managing power and influence,
communication flow)
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 Group Formation

Formal Groups Informal Groups

official or assigned groups that evolve in
groups gathered to the work setting to
perform various tasks meet need not met
by formal groups.

In both, ethnic, gender, cultural and

interpersonal diversity is critical

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The Five Stage Model

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Punctuated Equilibrium Model
Groups do not progress linearly from
one step to the next, but alternate
between periods of inertia and
bursts of energy.

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 MATURE GROUP
CHARACTERISTICS
Purpose and Mission
May be assigned or may emerge from the group
Group often questions, reexamines, and
modifies mission and purpose
Mission converted into specific agenda, clear
goals, and a set of critical success factors

Behavioral Norms
Well-understood standards of behavior within a
group
Also evolve around performance and
productivity.
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Group Cohesion
interpersonal attraction binding group

members together; enables groups to

exercise effective control over the members

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 Groups with High Cohesiveness

demonstrate lower tension and

anxiety
demonstrate less variation in
productivity
demonstrate better member
satisfaction, commitment, and
communication

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Cohesiveness and Work-Related Tension

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 Beyond the Book:
What You Dont Want in a Team
In his new book How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some
Companies Never Give In, Jim Collins identifies a
number of characteristics of ineffective teams:
People shield those in power from unpleasant facts
People assert strong facts without data.
Team members dont unify to make a decision.
Team members try to take as much credit as possible.
Team members blame others for failures.

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Status Structure
the set of authority and task relations among

a groups members; can be egalitarian or

hierarchical

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5 Learning Outcome

Explain how task and

maintenance functions influence
group performance.

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Team Task Functions
those activities directly related to the

effective completion of the teams work

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Team Task Functions

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Maintenance Functions

those activities essential to the effective,

satisfying interpersonal relationships

within a team or group

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Team Maintenance Functions

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6 Learning Outcome

Discuss the factors that influence

group effectiveness.

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Work Team Structure Issues
Goals and objectives
Guidelines
Performance measures
Role specification.

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Work Team Process Issues
Managing cooperative behaviors

Managing competitive behaviors

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 Diversity in Teams
Plays a large role in groups
effectiveness.
Members contribute to team in one of
four styles:
Contributor
Collaborator
Communicator
Challenger
An effective group also needs an integrator.

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 Dissimilarity in Teams
Demographic dissimilarity influences
absenteeism, commitment, turnover
intentions, beliefs, workgroup
relationships, self-esteem, and
organizational citizenship behavior.
Can have positive or negative effects
on teams
Value dissimilarity negatively related to
team involvement

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 Structural Diversity
The number of structural holes in a
work team
Teams with few holes may have
problems with creativity.
Teams with lots of holes may have
difficulty coordinating.
Teams with moderate structural
diversity achieve the best performance.

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7 Learning Outcome

Describe how empowerment

relates to self-managed teams.

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 Empowerment Skills

Competence Process
Skills Skills

Self-
Management
or
Team Skills
Cooperative Communication
and Helping Skills
Behaviors
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 Self-Managed Teams
also called self-directed teams or

autonomous work groups; teams that make

decisions once reserved for managers

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 Beyond the Book:
Self-Directed Work Teams

Studies suggest: leaders within self-

directed work teams get better results
with soft influence tactics (e.g. rational
persuasion, consultation, inspirational
appeals) than hard influence tactics.

How should approaches to leadership differ when

leading a group from within or from without?

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8 Learning Outcome

Explain the importance of upper

echelons and top management
teams.

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 Upper Echelons:
Teams at the Top
Self-managed teams at the
top-level of an organization

Their background characteristics predict

organizational characteristics

Set standards for values, competence, ethics,

and unique characteristics in the organization

Key to the strategic success of the

organization
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 5 Seasons of CEO Tenure
1. Response to a mandate
2. Experimentation
3. Selection of an enduring theme
4. Convergence
5. Dysfunction

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Executive Tenure and Organizational Performance

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Diversity at the Top

Out of dissimilarity, strength is

built.

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 Multicultural Top Teams

Diversity may increase uncertainty,

complexity, and inherent confusion in
group processes.

Culturally diverse groups may generate

more and better ideas, and limit
groupthink.

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 1. This chapter defined group as two
or more people who have common
interests, objectives and
continuing interaction. Does this
film sequence have examples of
each part of that definition?
Identify specific moments that fit
the definition.
2. Review the section Stages of
Friends with Group Development. Apply that
Money discussion to both film sequences.
You should see examples of each
stage.
3. Does the samll group in these film
sequnces appear cohesive? Cite
some specific moments from the
film sequences to support your
conclusion.

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